Middle East & North Africa

18 November 2023; MEMO: Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Iran, including the capital Tehran, on Saturday to protest Israeli attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip and call for an immediate cease-fire, Anadolu Agency reports.

The nationwide rallies were held “in support of the oppressed children of Gaza” under the slogan, “Palestine is not alone,” as people marched with banners and posters condemning the Gaza war.

18 November 2023; MEMO: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan expressed concerns Saturday that Israel’s continued possession of nuclear weapons could heighten the nuclear arms race, leading to an unfavorable situation, Anadolu Agency reports.

20 November 2023; MEMO: The Ankara Bar Association has announced plans to file a lawsuit with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague regarding “Israeli war crimes in Palestine”, Anadolu news agency has reported.

20 November 2023; MEMO: The Israeli army has detained 880 Palestinian children since the start of this year, a local non-governmental organisation said Monday, Anadolu Agency reports.

"More than 200 children are still in custody, including 26 held under Israel’s policy of administrative detention without charge or trial" the Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement marking World Children’s Day.

20 November 2023; MEMO: More than 10 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a UN-run school in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Monday, Palestinian group Hamas said, Anadolu Agency reports.

"This is a heinous crime and a disdain for the UN refugee agency, UNRWA, and the United Nations" Hamas said in a statement.

It called for an immediate action "to stop the targeting of civilians in schools protected under international law"

20 November 2023; MEMO: Leading British and French academics have accused US authorities of sending back fake Roman mosaics to Lebanon, according to a report yesterday by the Guardian.

One academic, Djamila Fellague of the University of Grenoble claimed that eight out of nine mosaic panels that authorities in New York repatriated to the country were forgeries.

20 November 2023; MEMO: The deputy speaker of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, has called for the burning of Gaza, which has been under relentless Israeli bombardment since 7 October.

According to the Hebrew TV Channel 12, Knesset Deputy Speaker and far-right Likud Party member, Nissim Vaturi, tweeted on Saturday on X that Gaza must be burned.

20 November 2023; MEMO: A group of 28 prematurely born babies evacuated from Gaza’s biggest hospital were taken into Egypt for urgent treatment on Monday, while Palestinian authorities and the WHO said 12 people were killed at another Gaza hospital encircled by Israeli tanks.

21 November 2023; MEMO: The Israeli army, on Monday, hit a church in southern Lebanon with artillery shells, causing significant damage to the church building, Anadolu Agency reports.

According to the official Lebanese news agency, NNA,

"the Israeli army hit the Saint George Church in the town of Yaroun, southern Lebanon, near the border"

No injuries were reported in the Israeli shelling of the Melkite (Greek) Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church

TEHRAN, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Monday reiterated that the resistance groups in the region "are not directed by Iran and do not take orders from Iran."

He made the remarks at a weekly press conference in the Iranian capital Tehran while commenting on the military operations by the regional resistance groups against the U.S. bases in Iraq.